[Avodah] [Areivim] shelo asani isha

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, Aug 10, 2011 at 08:01:47PM +0000, shalomyitz at comcast.net wrote to
Areivim:
: The Yerushalmi/Rashi explanation that we say shelo asani isha because of
: our greater chiyuv in mitzvos is fine, but that highlights the fact that
: men have a greater chiyuv in mitzvos ... which is a preferable state (why
: else are we thanking HaShem for that; why else do we say Baruch... asher
: kidishanu b'mitzvosav vitzivanu).

Life is too complex to be reduced to one axis and one ranking system.
Most aspects of the human condition have multiple ways of being measured.
E.g. A mal'akh is more qadosh than a person, as it is entirely set
aside to do Retzon haBorei (the definition of qedushah), but a person
is betzelem E-lokim and a mal'akh is not.

Having more mitzvos means having more opportunities to refine oneself,
get sekhar, etc... But also more opportunities to mess up. It means that
men are playing a higher stakes game.

However, our mean is less holy than that of women. (Compare who brought
gold to the eigel, vs who donated gold to the mishkan. Or the Maharal
on Shemos 19:3.) Men have more opportunity to rise (or fall), but still,
we start at a lower point.

So, men thank G-d for the extra mitzvos, and women thank G-d for
being made closer to His ultimate Will.

Each has its positives, and both could see their glasses as half full.

:-)BBii!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             "I hear, then I forget; I see, then I remember;
micha at aishdas.org        I do, then I understand." - Confucius
http://www.aishdas.org   "Hearing doesn't compare to seeing." - Mechilta
Fax: (270) 514-1507      "We will do and we will listen." - Israelites